K
Keiji Maeda
Guest
Saturday October 2, 2010
Eye on Malaysia comes down
By MARTIN CARVALHO
[email protected]
MALACCA: The 10-month long controversy over the iconic Eye on Malaysia finally came to an end with its dismantling late Thursday evening. Its owner, Belgian company Fitraco NV, has been given three weeks to dismantle the 62m-tall wheel and remove it from the 1.6ha state-owned land in Kota Laksamana next to the Malacca River.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam said the company had found an overseas buyer and agreed to remove the structure. “I was informed that work to dismantle the Eye on Malaysia began on Thursday evening,” he told reporters after launching the new Panorama Coaches and One-Million Melaka Maju 2010 postcards here yesterday.
Work in progress: The iconic ferris wheel being dismantled in Kota Laksamana. A crane and several huge containers to house the gondolas were also seen at the site yesterday.
He said the state would still seek rental amounting to RM10,000 per day from Fitraco since they took possession of the wheel on Jan 7. “We are looking at resolving the matter amicably. “However, we will leave it to the courts to decide,” he added. Meanwhile, Mohd Ali said the state would decide later this month on the purchase of a new replacement ferris wheel from China.
“We are considering a 82m-tall wheel at a cost of RM7mil or a larger 125m-tall wheel for RM15mil,” he said. On Jan 7, Fitraco obtained a High Court order to take possession of the wheel from MST Ad Suria Sdn Bhd following the latter’s failure to repay an RM18mil loan under a leasing agreement.
MST Ad Suria brought the wheel into the country in 2007 and placed it at Taman Tasik Titiwangsa in Kuala Lumpur in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year 2007. It was later moved to Kota Laksamana next to the Malacca River in September 2008 under a joint venture agreement between MST Ad Suria and Eye On Malaysia Sdn Bhd (EOM), a subsidiary of state-owned company Kumpulan Melaka Berhad.
